One of the most celebrated humorists (writers of clever humor) and public figures of his day, Will Rogers offered dry, whimsical commentaries on a variety of political, social, and economic issues, and he became the voice of the "average" citizen.

Often billed as "the world's greatest rock and roll band," the English rock group the Rolling Stones has outlasted nearly all of its 1960s peers and continues to belt out hits well into the group's collective middle age.

Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882– 1945), the thirty-second president of the United States. She was a well-known philanthropist (a person who works to aid others through charity).

The first modern American president, Theodore Roosevelt was also the youngest and one of the most popular, important, and controversial. During his years in office he greatly expanded the power of the presidency.

Diana Ross, once the lead singer for the Motown supergroup the Supremes, was the most successful female singer of the rock and roll era. In the next few decades, she continued to enjoy success with a solo career and numerous television and film appearances.

The English painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a cofounder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a band of painters that reacted against unimaginative and traditional historical paintings. His works show a passionate imagination, strongly contrasting Victorian art which was popular during the second half of the nineteenth century.

The Swiss-born philosopher (seeker of wisdom), author, political theorist (one who forms an explanation or theory on a subject based on careful study), and composer (writer of music) Jean-Jacques Rousseau ranks as one of the greatest figures of the French Enlightenment, a period of great artistic awakening in France.

The African American athlete Wilma Rudolph made history in the 1960 Summer Olympic games in Rome, Italy, when she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in the track and field competition.

The works of the Indian author Salman Rushdie often focused on outrages of history and particularly of religions. His book The Satanic Verses earned him a death sentence from the Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900–1989).

The American astronomer Carl Sagan studied the surfaces and atmospheres of the major planets, conducted experiments on the origins of life on Earth, made important contributions to the debate over the environmental consequences
Reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos.
of nuclear war, and wrote a number of popular books explaining developments in astronomy, biology, and psychology.

Andrei Sakharov was one of the Soviet Union's leading physicists and is regarded in scientific circles as the "father of the Soviet atomic bomb." He also became Soviet Russia's most prominent political dissident (a person who holds political views that differ from the majority) in the 1970s.

The American physician, virologist (scientist who studies viruses), and immunologist (medical scientist concerned with the structure and function of the immune system, the body's resistance to infection) Jonas Salk developed the first effective poliomyelitis (polio) vaccine.

An American poet, singer of folk songs and ballads, and biographer, Carl Sandburg is best known for his biography of Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
Carl Sandburg.
and his early verse celebrations of Chicago, Illinois.

German businessman Oskar Schindler became an unlikely hero when he saved hundreds of Jews in Poland and Czechoslovakia from death at the hands of the Nazis during World War II (1939–45). By employing them in his factory, Schindler protected them from the wrath of the Nazi Party and preserved generations of Jewish families.

Franz Schubert, an early romantic Austrian composer, is best known for his lieder (German art songs for voice and piano) during the nineteenth century. A new profusion of lyric poetry and the evolution of the piano into a highly complex mechanism allowed the gifted Schubert to compose exceptional lyrics.